For our final day in Udaipur we decided to join a boat ride around Lake Pichola and visit Monsoon Palace.

Lake Pichola Boat Ride

From City Palace Rameshwar Ghat we joined a shared boat ride tour around Lake Pichola. The one hour trip allowed us to get a close-up glimpse of all the small islands including;

Jag Niwas – which houses Lake Palace, a palace made famous by the Bond movie Octopussy.
Jag Mandir – which includes a Jag Mandir Palace that we stopped at.
Mohan Mandir – which we saw children diving into the waters from, and
Arsi Vilas – which houses a small palace

Jag Niwas Lake Palace famous for one of locations of the James Bond film Octopussy Wooden boat near the Jag Niwas Lake Palace and the Monsoon Palace in the background Jag Niwas Lake Palace with a traditional wooden boat
Jag Niwas Lake Palace the home of titular character Octopussy in James Bond film Monsoon Palace on Aravalli Hills in the distance with Lake Pichola Ghats in the foreground Bagore ki haveli Ghat with Jagat Niwas Ghat further on
City Palace as seen from Lake Pichola The Udaipur City Palace complex viewed from Lake Pichola Lal Ghat
Lal and Ghanghaur Ghat near Bagore ki haveli Mohan Mandir with Lake Pichola Ghats behind Mohan Mandir an uncompleted temple
Children diving from Mohan Mandir Swargiya Jodh Singh Ji Chauhan Puliya bridge A man and elephant under a tree
Elephant statues on the perimeter of Jag Mandir Palace Jag Mandir Palace surrounded with elephant statues Jag Mandir Palace elephant with City Palace seen in the distance
Sonya with an elephant at Jag Mandir Palace Travis at Jag Mandir Palace and City Palace in the distance Sonya resting on a white stone chair
Sonya and Travis at Jag Mandir Palace Three elephants and crocodile at Jag Mandir Palace fortunately all stone Bats in the trees on shore near the boats

Monsoon Palace

Our last destination in Udaipur was the Monsoon Palace, named as it was viewing location of the clouds used to determine the monsoon. Located five kilometers west from Udaipur, the journey was fairly expensive having to take an auto-rickshaw to the gate followed by part entrance fees and further Jeep transport to the palace.

The Monsoon Palace was extremely run-down, but did offer panoramic views of Udaipur and its lakes.

Mother and baby monkey resting under a bush Monkeys in a tree View of Udaipur from Aravalli Hills
View of Udaipur and Lake Pichola from the Monsoon Palace Sonya at one of the unrestored Monsoon Palace rooms View from Monsoon Palace of the Aravalli Hills